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At Harvard, Judge’s Ruling on Funding Gives Students One More Thing to Ponder

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Many students were cautiously hopeful after a judge said the Trump administration could not freeze research funding to the university. But they also had other things on their minds.

A reflection through a window shows the words “Harvard University.” A view through the window shows a red brick building.

Sept. 4, 2025, 8:09 p.m. ET

After a federal judge found that the Trump administration had violated the Constitution in freezing billions of dollars in research funding to Harvard, Rachel Hsu, a 23-year-old master’s student at the university who is from Belmont, Mass., said she was happy about the decision. But she was not dwelling on it.

Since she has been on campus, she said, “I’ve actually, like, kind of checked out” because she had been busy with orientation and other matters.

Evan Elling, a freshman from Ohio who is studying mechanical engineering, was even more ambivalent. “I was happy we’re getting more money,” Mr. Elling, 19, said. “But I need to look into it more to have a real opinion.”

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Landon Coles, a second-year law student. Credit...Sophie Park for The New York Times

The morning after the ruling, the air on campus was cool and dewy, and the atmosphere was businesslike. Many students welcomed the decision with a mix of relief and cautious optimism. But they also had a lot of other things on their minds during this first week of fall classes — chiefly, a semester’s worth of coursework ahead.

Still, almost all of the roughly 20 students who were approached on Thursday had to some extent heard of the ruling, in which a federal judge gave Harvard a significant legal victory, for now, rebuking the Trump administration’s effort to exert more influence on the university by withholding the funding.